Latest / Scripture Central / Alma 43–52 | Aug 12–18 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

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Alma 43–52 | Aug 12–18 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon · Scripture Central

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Hello, Welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson. I'm Jack Welch.
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And we're excited to talk about the book of Alma today.
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We're in chapters 43 to 52. It's an 8 year span from the
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18th year of the reign of the judges to the 25th.
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It's a very important time. It's a crucial time, and there's
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several major stakes that we confront here in this book of
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Alma. It's a long book, and we hope
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you won't get weary as you read through it.
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As you try to get a handle on the big picture of the Book of
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Alma, you might wonder why does the Book of Alma go all the way
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through chapter 63? Because Helaman's the one who's
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writing here. Moroni we are Mormon.
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We have lots of different people who are speaking, but there's
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something I think really important that ties the whole
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Book of Alma together. You remember the Book of Alma
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started with the the problem of establishing the reign of judges
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and the challenge that came with Nahor.
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And the big question I think in the book of Alma is will the
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reign of judges survive? And Helaman, of course, will be
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the successor to Alma. His son.
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But they don't know whether Alma is coming back or not.
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That's chapter 45. I think for a while they are
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wondering, well maybe he will come and if he does then he will
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continue as the high priest. Understood.
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So in a way, I believe all the way till the time that the book
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of Alma ends, Helaman is the acting high priest, acting on
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behalf of his father because they don't know that he is dead
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or gone or whatever. And so we have that thread
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holding the Book of Alma together, but then we also have
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the question of all these challenges to the reign of
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Judges. The Zoramites will become a
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major factor. And you remember what it was
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that the Zoramites get so upset about?
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Well, that's because Alma has taken the poor Zoramites and
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moved them over to the land of Gershon, where they become then
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associated with the Ammonites. They want to bury their weapons
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of war. They want to live the teachings
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that are going to lead them closer to Christ.
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And in response to that, the Zoramites in Antionum will go
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and cause it create an alliance with the Lamanites.
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That's right where we are. And the Lamanites of course,
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have the same complaint, that the Nephites have taken some of
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their people, the Ammonites. So that I think helps to give.
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The political overview. They they aren't just
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squabbling. They're major stakes here, as
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usually is the case in campaigns that last this long.
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During these five years we have 8 battles or wars that are
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emphasized and I'm fascinated that the emphasis though is not
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on the battle. The longest battles aren't even
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mentioned, it just says this let last a long time.
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What's mentioned is the relationship to seeing God's
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hand, to see the miracles, to see the blessings that God
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inspired his leaders with developments and strategies.
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We see God's hand here more than we see the actual battlefield.
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And Len, you're absolutely right that what we see here so often
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is the hand of God directing to traffic and causing blessings.
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And I think that's why Mormon especially would have left all
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this material in the Book of Mormon I.
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Think he's crafted it. He's carefully put the letters
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together. He's put the different
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conversations together. Yeah, he's.
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But he also understands the military strategy.
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Of course, yes. And and he understands.
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Himself. You know what it takes to
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organize and win battles. And he looks back at this time
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and is amazed that they were able to win as they did, but it
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was because the Lord blessed them.
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But remember that there are two purposes that are stated in the
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title page. One is, of course, that the Jew
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and Gentile and everyone will know that Jesus is the Christ.
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But there's another purpose, and that is that the remnants of the
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Lamanites will know what great things the Lord has done for
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their ancestors, and that they are not cast.
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Off so these chapters are fulfilling that.
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You can see how in these chapters, God's hand is
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protecting, especially the Ammonite converts, they are
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Lamanites and this freedom of religion and the need for them
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to be protected so that they will survive.
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And with that we will in the book of Helaman, we will see
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Samuel, the Lamanite and other Lamanites who are prominent and
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more righteous than the Nephites.
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So that purpose that Mormon wants to show, yes, we've fought
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battles with the Lamanites, but our purpose here is to show that
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they are not cast off. And most of that will be in next
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week. The the Ammonites and the
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Stripling Warriors are all next week.
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But this week I've made a little chart here to show these
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chapters in Alma 43 to 52 and the years.
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We've got two years in the 18th year of the Reign of the Judge,
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and that's basically this dissenting group of Zarahemna,
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and he is defeated and goes back to the Lamanites.
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Then we've got several chapters in the 19th year of the Reign of
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the Judges, 4 years that talk about Alma passing the plates to
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his son. And Jack's already mentioned.
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We don't know exactly where Alma went, I think he was translated,
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but we'll find out in heaven. Yeah.
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And we may know that, but they didn't.
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They speculated about it and even if he was translated he
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could maybe come back and visit them of.
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Course, Yeah, no, I totally agree.
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So there's. Yeah, there's that open-ended
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aspect to that. And then chapter 46 were
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introduced to the new captain, the Nephite military, Moroni and
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Lakaya then becomes the king of the Lamanites, and we learn
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about all of his murder and intrigue in chapters 474849.
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And then we finish up this week with a change of power between
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Nephi Kha and his son Pahoran, and then, unfortunately, a
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internal battle between the king, men of the Nephites who
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want to change the law. They don't want to have the
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reign of the judges continue. They want to go back.
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And that's taken to the people and we vote.
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So that's sort of an overview. The problem with that little
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internal schism, this little civil war issue, is that it then
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leads to a second Lamanite war, and that's where we end is right
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at the beginning of that war with the 2nd Amalekite.
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And and we do call it a Lamanite war, but remember that the
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leaders are these Zoramites who are the dissenters.
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And they go and they then Marshall all of the Lamanite
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warriors. And this the they put them in as
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leaders and chief captains. But it's the Zoramites who are
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still upset about what has happened there in the land of
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Zarahemla. So it's it's not unlike the kind
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of political divisions that we see in wars all the time.
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The people are looking for allies.
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They're they're, they have their own interests mainly in in mind.
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And so here you've got the Zoramites and the Lamanites and
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Nephites and Mulakites are also in this picture.
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So it's a complex world. And I think we can learn lessons
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in our world today from this as well, that dividing if you are
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divided, you will be conquered and you have to stay together as
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a people. The extremists, the dissenters,
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it's it's detrimental. I think Mormon wants to say this
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came perilously close to destroying the Nephite people,
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the reign of judges, and who would there have been just a
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couple generations later to greet the birth of Christ if you
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know this, this period of war had not been worked out finally
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by righteous and diligent people.
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Let's dive into the text starting in chapter 42, verse
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one. The sons of Alma did go forth
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among the people to declare the word unto them, and Alma also
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himself could not rest. I just love that they finished.
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We had just finished reading about other missionary examples
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down low and Alma sends his sons out, but this time he has to
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join him. They preach the Word and the
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truth according to the Spirit of prophecy and Revelation, and
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they preached after the holy order of God by which they were
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called. I want to emphasize again that
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they do not hold the ironic priesthood.
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They hold the higher priesthood. This is referred to in the Book
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of Mormon as the Holy order of God.
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We call it the Melchizedek priesthood.
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But I'm really touched by this constant reference that they are
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acting under God's power. They are acting under God's
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authority. And because of that, they have
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the gifts, the spirit, the gift of revelation, the gift of
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prophecy. And this is a phrase that's not
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used in the Bible. This is the Book of Mormon
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phrase that's then repeated in the other modern revelation.
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But I just love the fact that when we act in God's name, doing
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God's work, we are given his gifts, whether we're men, women,
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or children. Notice that this holy order of
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God is what Alma had preached in the city of Amaniah and explains
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this using Melchizedek as the archetype of the king priest who
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was righteous. So we have especially these sons
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of Alma, whom he has charged to speak following the holy order
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of the priesthood that they've been given, but also to speak
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with the spirit of revelation and prophecy and to preach the
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gospel. I did a little looking at these
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three sons. It's sort of interesting to see
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where the sons are sighted, where they go, because you
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remember a week or two ago we had the lesson about the letters
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or the blessings that were given to the three sons.
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And now we see that they Corry Anton did repent and he does
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follow through and that he received his father's counsel.
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We see Shiblon continuing to work on beside his brother, he
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Lemon. And I'm just thrilled to see
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that there's a lot of continuity in the text on these three
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brothers. They're not far apart.
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We don't know where they actually are headquartered, but
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the temple there in Zahrahemel was probably their home base.
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It sounds like it because that's where Alma goes to rest and
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before he goes out on another mission.
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I'm interested, as you mentioned this overarching challenge that
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they have, their religious challenges turned into political
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challenges. And that's when we see in verse
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4, the Zoramites become Lamanites.
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So it was a religious challenge and now it's not.
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Now, on this chart, you can see that there were lots of wars.
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We've given them names and a brief summary, but it does help
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as you're going through this complicated history to realize
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that there are many parts of this military era and it lasts
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for several years. One of the wars will be a 7 year
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war. So we we need to keep track of
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kind of who is where and what they're doing.
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I like a map. And I was going to suggest
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that's a great idea to make your own map, if you will, and just
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keep the main theaters of of military conflict in mind and
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recognize that sometimes we're South of Zarahemla, sometimes
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we're in Gideon, which is not too far from Zarahemla.
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Yeah. And so when a battle is taking
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place in Gideon, that's on the doorstep of the capital city.
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Now other places are up on the the seacoast to the north and
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they build new cities up there, Morianton.
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So put that on your map. But the whole thing is very
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small. It's, it's within a few days
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journey to each city, it says that you can get from one city
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to the next in a day. So the whole thing, if we go
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back and remember that from the land of Nephi to the land of
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Zarahemla with children, with animals was a 20 day walk.
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It's not a large space, but it's really helpful to figure out
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where things lie. And I think as well, from a
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military analysis point of view, sometimes these are little
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skirmishes that are just like at the beginning where the battle
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is diffused fairly quickly and, and, and there's just that one
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confrontation. But then there will be other
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times when they're actually fighting simultaneously in two
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fronts and at the end in three fronts.
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And of course in in in World War experience, we learned that if
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you are fighting in multiple places and it's very difficult,
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especially in the ancient world to fight 2 fronts.
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In Chapter 43, there are seven different times where the author
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is writing down this important divine allegiance.
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They are not saying we are honoring Moses, they're not
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saying we're honoring the Nephite lands.
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They're saying we are honoring God.
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And in this verse, in chapter 43, verse nine, we read to
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support their lands and their houses and their wives and their
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children, that they might preserve them from the hands of
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their enemies, and also that they might preserve their rights
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and their privileges also their liberty.
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They, they might worship God and then that's repeated seven times
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in this chapter in different ways, different words, but to
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me, this is something he wants us to get.
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They are not fighting because they want more power or
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authority. They're fighting only
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defensively and only to protect their families and their God.
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And I think this number seven, of course, would emphasize the
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the holiness of this cause. Now what they're fighting for is
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especially the right to worship the way they want to their
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church, their religion and their God.
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And so I, I hadn't counted those, but I think that they're
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little subtle differences between these statements.
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But it's very clear that they have a religious campaign
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commitment to supporting, which again, is the essential elements
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of the reign of judges that Alma, Alma's father and Alma the
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younger had had set in place. And now we have that carried
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out. Once Alma is gone, who is there
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to defend this political and religious agenda?
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Well, as we mentioned, the people of Ammon, the Ammonites
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were pacifists. They let, they will let their
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sons go to war because they had not sworn an oath to go to war.
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And yes, they're not generic pacifists and they do support,
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as we mentioned before, the the efforts in the front.
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That's chapter 43, verse 12. The Nephites would not suffer
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that those Ammonites should be destroyed.
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Therefore they gave them lands for their inheritance.
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This was the land of Gershon, and the people of Ammon did give
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unto the Nephites a large portion of their substance in
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support of their armies. That's another reason why I
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don't think their pacifist is they're helping the other people
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defend them. They're paying for others to
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guard them and to protect them. But they don't stay in Jerichon
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very long because that's where the Zoramites are coming to get
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some of their people that also join.
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And they'll have to be moved Now remember that the covenant that
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they make is that their swords will not be stained by blood.
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And so they can do anything else that doesn't involve playing.
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And then in chapter 43, verse 17, this is the first time we
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hear of Captain Moroni. He took all the command and the
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government of their wars and he was only 25 years old when he
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was appointed chief captain. Now, it's interesting.
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Alexander the Great was about this age, and this was 200 years
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before in the ancient world, you know, over in Greece, not
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necessarily here in the New World.
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But I'm fascinated that this is not an unheard of age to become
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the military captain. And doesn't Moroni, excuse me,
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doesn't Mormon himself become captain at like 16?
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Verses 23 to 24 go on to say Moroni also knowing of the
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prophecies of Alma. Notice the prophecies that are
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important. Alma is a prophet and he is
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foretelling the future. Not just the the prophecies in
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that sense, but the words of the prophet.
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I think the word is broad enough to include the teachings and the
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covenants and prophecies about the coming of Christ.
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And knowing of these prophecies, he sent certain men unto him,
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desiring him that he should inquire of the Lord.
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Moroni knows that Alma has a prophetic.
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Gift. And as a good military leader,
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he goes to the Prophet to ask for guidance.
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I think it's brilliant. And Alma, who knows that area
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where they were fighting down in the land of Manti.
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He also can give A and not just an inspired answer, but he
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probably also would have understood the logistics of this
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place. And he gives not only the place,
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but the timing. So the word of the Lord comes
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into Alma, that the Lamanites were now marching toward Manti.
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So that's the headwaters of the Riverside.
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Alma had been there himself. After they leave ammonia, that's
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where he goes. This battle there is very short
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lived. It's a few days maybe, possibly
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a few weeks. There's no great military
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purpose. No, because they're frightened.
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The Zoramite war is totally overwhelmed by the fact that
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Moroni has prepared so well. In verse 35, the Lamanites had
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passed the hill Ripla and came to the valley, and they began to
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cross the river Sidon. But as they are crossing the
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Riverside and unfortunately they're met on the backside by
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someone else. And what does verse 49 tell us?
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They cried with one voice unto the Lord their God for their
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liberty and their freedom from bonding, and they began to stand
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against the Lamanites with power.
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In that self same hour that they cried unto the Lord for their
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freedom, the Lamanites began to flee before them.
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So do you see that what I was mentioning before the emphasis
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of the author is that God's hand is in this God is protecting
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them. The other thing that the author
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brings up in these chapters, 43 here is the number and that the
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dissenters are almost as many as the loyalists.
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Isn't that amazing? And then we have the Lamanites,
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twice as numerous as the Nephites.
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So I think the author is trying to say we are in a numerical
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disadvantage. It reminds me back as you were
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talking about the Old Testament, it reminded me of the battle of
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when Joshua first comes over. They're completely outnumbered.
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Gideon's completely outnumbered. But the Lord can bring about his
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purposes. The Lord does not need numerical
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strength. Chapter 44 continues on with
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these few weeks, these few days of battle.
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When Moroni sees that the Lamanites or the dissenting
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Zormites are frightened, he stops the fight and says, let's
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make a covenant. Lay down your arms and you can
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go. Well, it's interesting because
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their leaders, Sarah Hemna, is willing to lay down his military
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warfare, but he's not willing to make the oath.
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And I am just blown away by this.
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He takes it so seriously. He picks up his sword and that's
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when the servant of Moroni steps in.
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Won't let him kill Moroni. Completely knocks the sword out
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of his hand and breaks the sword and scalps him.
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This was one phenomenal swordsman and I looked into some
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of the history of scalping. You don't have to take off the
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entire layer of skin and dermis, but just even a portion of it is
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still scalping and. The cutting of the hair.
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You remember. Samson would not cut his hair.
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That was because of the Nasrite law.
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That's right. But still, it's related to that,
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that when you go to battle, you know, your long hair, it's a, it
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is a masculine manifestation of strength and power.
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And so when his hair is cut off, that's getting pretty close to
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killing him. And Sarah Hemner retreats, and
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the battle basically only lasts a few more short, very short
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period of time. But these military oaths that
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the Nephites and Lamanites took so seriously, I think the Book
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of Mormon mentions not only oaths of loyalty for the troops,
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but oaths for surrender. And then there were treaties,
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your oaths, and they're not negotiable.
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And you'll see this throughout the military chapters.
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And what does Zarahemna promise? That he would covenant and his
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people also with them, That if they would spare the remainder
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of their lives, they would never come again to war against the
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Nephites. And that most important as we go
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to the next war in a few more chapters.
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And that's again, what we've been emphasizing is that these
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are really not the Lamanites who have a complaint against the
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Nephites. These are the dissenters within
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the land of Zarahemlah themselves, and particularly the
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Zoramites. I'm fascinated also as you just
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look down a couple more verses to verse 22, that the river
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Sidon is swift enough that they can put the bodies there.
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Now, we learned back earlier that the Riverside was
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affordable, that they were able to walk across it, that the
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military went from one side of it to the other side of it.
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And we learned that the children of Ammon are able to move from
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Jershon over to Manti. You know, they're able to walk
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across. But read verse 22 for me, Jack,
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this is just fascinating. Verse 22 They did cast their
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dead into the waters of Sidon, and they have gone forth and are
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buried in the depths of the. Sea and thus ends the war, we're
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told in verse 24. Thus ended the 18th year of the
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reign of the Judges over the people of Nephi, and thus ended
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the record of Alma, which was written upon the plates of
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Nephi. We go to Chapter 45.
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And in Chapter 45, we, we have now an interview between Alma
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and his sons. And it's, you know, it's really
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kind of like a, a stake president's interview or a
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Bishop's interview, asking them, do you believe and are you
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keeping your, your faith and are you obeying the commandments and
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things like that? It's it's kind of Alma's
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farewell. It's interesting that Alma's
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record doesn't include that interview.
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No, Alma's record stops at 44, and then this is 45.
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So this is his son, including those three questions that he's
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asked about Christ. And why do you think Heilmann
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would want to include that at the beginning of his part of
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this record? Well, one of the questions is
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will you take care of the plates and do you believe in God?
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He's showing that he is willing to carry out the work of God.
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But I'm fascinated, Jack, just as a literary device, the
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difference between the 1st 44 chapters in Alma are filled with
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chiasmus. I think I told you I almost
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found one per chapter at least, and most of them were much
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larger. Beautiful.
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Alma 36, of course, is our best, but we completely see a change
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in the authorship. Now, in English, you may not
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catch it unless you're really looking at this with computers
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and stylometry. I've got a chart here that I'd
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love to show you about looking at Alma's words.
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And when we just look at Alma's words, whether they're in the
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same context of his letters or in the same context of his
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sermons or narrative, there is continuity between the
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authorship. But when we look at Alma versus
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someone like Nephi who also wrote a lot, the statistics show
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that they are different authors. And I see as soon as we jump
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over to Helaman, we see a different author.
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And it's just what the book claims to be, an ancient text
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with multiple authors. And you know, this chart, which
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has been published long ago, is one of our first efforts back in
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the 1980s, thanks to John Hilton's work to to just say,
24:45
well, we have a big block of Nephi words.
24:48
We have big blocks of Alma's words.
24:50
We have enough that we can compare those writers with
24:54
Joseph Smith and Oliver Calgary and other known writers.
24:56
That day they used 5000 word segments and they put him in a
24:59
computer with lots of studies. And as as the chart shows, you
25:04
do get separation and especially when you get down to comparing
25:07
Solomon Spaulding with Nephi and Alma.
25:10
He's one of those who was claimed to possibly have been
25:13
the author of the book because he wrote something similar.
25:15
The technology of stylometry developed and is now at a point
25:20
where we don't need to have 5000 word samples to compare the
25:25
computer with. Supercomputer capability can
25:28
actually produce separation between different authors with
25:32
as few as a couple 100 words. And what this means is the
25:37
latest studies are able to find at least 27, maybe 28 different
25:44
authors writing in the Book of Mormon.
25:47
How about the letters? The letters, yes, some of these
25:49
letters. We have letters here.
25:50
Moroni and from Ameron. In the book of Alma especially,
25:55
we have a variety of authors where where going forward now we
26:00
will have a report from Helaman and that's three chapters long.
26:03
And like you say, there are other letters that are written,
26:06
especially Moroni's and Pahorans.
26:08
They're exchanging, first of all, Moroni's anger and, and,
26:13
and Pahoran's calm responses. But we also see here very
26:18
clearly distinct verbal differences.
26:23
It's, it's almost like a fingerprint.
26:25
You know, the fingerprints are, they're all that, they're all
26:28
different. But if you don't know the subtle
26:31
differences, they may all look the same.
26:33
So in reading the book of Alma, take it seriously when we get a
26:37
cue that we are now shifting from 1 voice to another.
26:41
I want to start in chapter 45, verse one because I'm so touched
26:44
that they celebrate their victory by fasting, by praying,
26:48
by worshipping. Yeah, that is really interesting
26:50
that they are so pleased that they have been delivered and
26:54
obviously it's been a miraculous divine deliverance.
26:58
And it says that they gave thanks unto the Lord their God,
27:02
and they did fast much and pray also, and they did worship God
27:08
with exceeding great joy. The joy can also refer to the
27:12
kind of celebration and shouting hosanna, and not just feeling
27:17
happy, but the fasting. They would want to appear before
27:22
God in a pure state. And when you fast, you deprive
27:28
yourself of of food that you normally would eat, but in the
27:33
process you recognize even more your dependence upon God.
27:37
But that's how they approach the war, and that's what is
27:39
emphasized by the author. They're not emphasizing the
27:42
battle as much as they are God's intervention.
27:45
But in verses 9 to 14, we then move on to Alma's prophecy of
27:51
the future extinction. So after Alma had asked Helaman,
27:57
Believe us, thou in Jesus Christ, you shall come.
28:00
And he said, yeah, I believe all the words you've spoken.
28:03
And then Alma says unto him, Blessed art thou, and the Lord
28:07
shall prosper thee in this land. He knows, of course, that there
28:11
was a 600 year prophecy. That Christ would come in 600
28:15
years after Lehi. From Nephi's time and now, he
28:18
says, I perceive that this very people, the Nephites, according
28:21
to the spirit of Revelation, which is in me in 400 years from
28:25
the time that Jesus shall manifest himself shall dwindle
28:28
in unbelief. So it's not going to be the case
28:32
that Jesus will come and everything will, you know, the
28:35
millennial day will arrive. He's now informing him that on
28:39
this there's the 600 year prophecy when Jesus will come
28:44
and then 400 years after Jesus come, then you'll have a
28:48
complete thousand year period. And at that point, they will
28:52
dwindle in unbelief. Well, the extinction is
28:54
mentioned as. Well, that's right.
28:55
And the the 400 years is 20 * 20 and in the Mayan calendar a tune
29:05
is 20 years. And so this would be 20 tunes.
29:10
And that makes sense. We would think more in terms of
29:12
centuries and decades, but they would think in terms of 20 year
29:16
cycles. And then Alma leaves, and we
29:19
don't know exactly where he went.
29:21
He's taken up by this. I think there's another
29:23
interesting point, but you have to go back to the original
29:26
manuscript of the Book of Mormon to see this one.
29:28
In verse 22 of chapter 45, we have a different pen.
29:33
Everything else is in Oliver Caldari's handwriting up to this
29:36
point. But the quill has a different
29:38
penmanship here for just 28 words, and it matches Joseph
29:42
Smith. So there was one point when
29:44
Joseph is doing the scribe work. We don't know who what else was
29:48
going on, but it's just this tiny little place.
29:50
It's the only place in the Book of Mormon.
29:51
It's right here that least this is the only place we have.
29:54
And what we have is the small portion of the original
29:56
manuscript that still exists. Who do you think that Oliver
29:59
needed to take a break? Maybe.
30:02
And it may have been that Joseph had just seen and read the words
30:06
that needed to be written down, and he.
30:08
Wanted to keep going. Oliver said, excuse me, I'll be
30:10
right back. And Joseph says, well, leave me
30:13
the pen. And he writes these words.
30:15
And I think it's interesting. Yay.
30:17
In every city, throughout all the land which was possessed by
30:20
the people of Nephi, it came to pass that they did appoint
30:24
priests and teachers. Yes, it is interesting that
30:28
those are the words continue to be taught.
30:30
Life continued to go on during these periods of time.
30:33
It was very important that they maintain their relationship with
30:35
God and I think. The priesthood that Joseph Smith
30:41
restores is something that he realizes is very important now.
30:47
The priesthood had. Not yet been restored to him.
30:50
That will come a little later when they're translating Third
30:52
Nephi. But he already understands the
30:56
importance of having priests and teachers.
30:59
And I think as he saw this, maybe he said, I don't want to
31:04
lose this. And I think that's important
31:06
because. He comes from a period of time
31:07
where priesthood was sort of disregarded, that the Puritans
31:11
and the Protestants did not seek for the priesthood.
31:14
And yet Joseph Smith is being line upon line introduced to
31:17
this need of God's power. So in Chapter 46, we now have a
31:28
civil war that is led by Amalekaya, and Moroni needs now
31:37
to gather faithful people. And he does this by hoisting up
31:43
on a pole the torn coat that he had been wearing.
31:48
He takes his coat, he tears it, and he writes upon it.
31:52
These words that we've seen before, the purposes and the
31:56
reasons for which they are are fighting.
31:59
And the people then come running.
32:02
And you might wonder, why would they come running just because
32:06
Moroni has put a pole up there, Because they come with their
32:09
weapons. They're ready to go to battle.
32:13
There's an interesting little account by a Catholic scholar
32:17
named Roland Devoe, who spent a lot of time in Israel right
32:22
after World War 2 and went around trying to understand the
32:26
the people of the land. And he and some other people
32:31
were actually out surveying, taking a, you know, a sighting
32:36
picket. And then they were measuring the
32:38
height of certain hills and things in the the area where
32:41
this had never been done before. And as they got up to the top of
32:45
the hill and put their sighting picket up, all of a sudden the
32:50
village down below, all the men came running up to the top of
32:54
the hill with their swords and their guns.
32:57
Oh my and at. First, there they.
32:59
Were shocked saying oh, we're friendly, don't, don't, don't
33:02
attack us. And they said no, no, where's
33:05
the battle? So that was a sign.
33:07
Of a battle putting up. The picket putting up the pole
33:11
or a flag and. What we would call now, yes, and
33:14
the Romans of. Course also used these poles for
33:17
rallying around the pole each each century had its own pole
33:25
and so Alma uses and apparently in ancient times you have to
33:31
have something that is known by all the soldiers and they're you
33:35
know this is not a professional military No, no, no, they are.
33:39
All people who. Live at home.
33:41
And how do you call them to war, Captain Moroni?
33:45
Pulls it out and the words are a little bit different.
33:48
Verse 12 reads in memory of our God, our religion, our freedom
33:53
and our peace, our wives and our children.
33:56
And that's what he fastens to the pull.
33:58
And So what? They're fighting.
33:58
For is, of course, their religious freedom, and this
34:01
passage in Alma 46 is taken today by the Church and by our
34:07
leaders. President Oakes especially has
34:12
spoken internationally on freedom of religion and the
34:15
importance of using all of our resources to strengthen and
34:20
defend our right to worship the way we want.
34:23
Moroni knows that if these dissenters win, the temple in
34:27
Zarahemla will be disbanded. The priests and the teachers in
34:30
that area will not have any authority to continue to preach
34:34
what they are doing. The covenants will not be kept.
34:39
And this is a crucial matter. And so when they fight and put
34:43
up, we will fight for our our freedom.
34:47
And they even call this the title of liberty, but he
34:51
includes in addition. To their freedom.
34:52
They're fighting for their families, Jack, their wives and
34:56
their children. They're fighting to protect
34:59
their families. I think that's important.
35:01
What you say again, is the motivation, what really matters
35:06
here, God and family, they're not fighting for their
35:10
businesses, They're not fighting for international trade, no.
35:13
And and they're not even. Fighting offensively, it's all
35:17
defensive warfare to defend their families and their
35:21
religion. Moroni then speaks to all the
35:24
people who were there, and he says in verse 18, Surely God
35:29
shall not suffer, that we who are despised because we take
35:32
upon us the name of Christ, shall be trodden down and
35:36
destroyed until we bring it upon us by our own transgression.
35:40
What else do you like about? Chapter 46 Jack Well, I like
35:43
the. The the words that in verse 20,
35:48
if you are going to maintain this title upon this land, let
35:51
them come forth and enter into a covenant that they will maintain
35:55
their rights and their religion. So they all come forth one at a
35:59
time. And what they say in verse 22,
36:01
we covenant with our God that we shall be destroyed even as our
36:05
brethren and land northward, meaning the Jaredites.
36:09
Yeah, He may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have
36:14
cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot if we
36:19
shall fall into transgression. Now, what's going on here is
36:23
they're taking their garments off and then they're all
36:25
stomping on them. And it is a symbol that this
36:29
will happen to us if we do not keep this covenant.
36:34
Now, there's a book that let me mention because it's so
36:40
pertinent to almost everything we're saying and finding in
36:42
these chapters. It's called Warfare in the Book
36:45
of Mormon, and this book was published back in 1990, so some
36:50
time ago. And in it there are lots of very
36:55
interesting details about what ancient warfare was like.
37:00
And it covers things like the organization of troops, their
37:04
weapons, fortifications, the timing of war, the ideology of
37:10
war, the the role of God in the war.
37:13
And I was fascinated to read. In this text, that 11 times the
37:17
title of liberty is used to rally the people in the text.
37:22
That may have happened more or less, but that's a lot more than
37:24
I had realized unless I had looked at this compilation.
37:28
What I find interesting. Here is that we actually have
37:31
from the Hittite world examples of oaths that were sworn by
37:37
soldiers, and we know that Uriah the Hittite was in King David's
37:42
army. He was one of his mighty men.
37:44
Yes, and maybe. They used this same pattern and
37:48
let me read to you two of the texts that tell us what the
37:53
Hittites did to put their soldiers underoath.
37:57
Then he places wax and mutton fat in their hands.
38:02
He throws them on a flame and says, just as this wax melts and
38:08
just as the mutton fat dissolves.
38:11
Whoever breaks these oaths shows disrespect to the king of Haiti.
38:17
The Hittites let him melt like wax, let him dissolve like
38:22
mutton fat. And the men declare.
38:24
So let it be Jack. That almost.
38:27
Sounds like we're using a pattern, but let me mention one.
38:30
Other here, because it's it's not just the the commander in
38:36
chief that's doing this. This is also a religious
38:39
function. And the next text, which comes
38:43
from a Hittite tablet, says he, the priest, presents to them a,
38:51
we don't know what it says, but he presents to them the language
38:54
before their eyes. He throws it on the ground.
38:58
So they've they've got their text, they've signed it and he
39:02
throws it. Maybe it's a clay tablet.
39:04
Most likely they throw that on the ground and they trample it
39:08
under foot. And he speaks as follows.
39:11
Whoever breaks these oaths, Even so, let the Hittite people come
39:17
and trample that man's town under foot.
39:20
So his home, his family, his people, there's a lot of
39:24
parallels. Between what we just read in
39:25
chapter 46 with Moroni. So now that's just. 11 little
39:30
example page after page of very interesting details about
39:34
ancient warfare that will will bring many important points to
39:40
light. Well, this chapter 46 ends with
39:42
a brief skirmish where a Malachiah who is Azoromite and
39:46
he's now trying to attack Zarahemla.
39:48
He's defeated fairly quickly. The loyalty and the response of
39:54
the Nephite soldiers was overwhelming.
39:56
And so Amalekaya, he takes off and he goes to the Lamanites.
40:00
And that's chapter 47. And through.
40:08
Deception and murder he is able to I can't believe how fast he
40:13
does this turn around but chapter 47 describes how he
40:17
becomes the king of the Lamanites verse one says that he
40:20
went up to the land of Nephi among the Lamanites and did stir
40:23
up the Lamanites to anger against the people of Nephi.
40:25
But the crazy thing is to me, the Lamanites do not want to
40:30
break their covenant, you know, And so he says, let's compel
40:34
them to arms, let's make them fight.
40:37
And he just does not, they do not want to do it.
40:39
And it actually causes a split. We have, you know, the people
40:44
that say we will not break our oath.
40:46
And they're the dissenters of the Lamanites under the
40:49
leadership of Lahontai. And he takes some of the people
40:52
away. Whereas the king of the
40:54
Lamanites and Amalekaya are trying by fraud to get their
40:58
people stirred up to go to battle again.
41:00
And of course, this land of. Nephi is the land where the four
41:03
sons of Messiah had been so successful in their missionary
41:08
work. So there were righteous people
41:10
among the Lamanites. And remember what we said about
41:12
the way in which these chapters will help the Lamanites and
41:18
their descendants to understand that they were righteous and
41:21
that the Lord has blessed them. Here's an example of that where
41:24
you have Azoromite coming over and now trying to mobilize
41:28
forces for his personal gain, and the Lamanites resist that,
41:34
but unfortunately. Lehontai, after Malachiah is
41:38
trying to connival his way by fraud into the hearts of people.
41:43
He then has him poisoned and has him killed so that he has a
41:46
larger group. And then of course, he arranges
41:49
to kill the king himself so that he can become the king.
41:52
But I love the statement by the queen.
41:55
Let's look at verses 32 to 35. The Queen begs him, Would you
42:00
please spare the people? I admire that she's willing to
42:04
stand up and have a voice now. I don't know the relationship
42:09
between men and women in that day and age.
42:11
It doesn't sound like she had a lot of choice except for
42:14
welcoming him. So she pleads for her people and
42:16
she could have been killed. Oh, of course, yeah.
42:18
But why do you think? Kamala Kaya doesn't kill her, he
42:21
is still acting. By fraud, wanting to gain the
42:24
majority of the people and so he becomes they they marry, he
42:29
takes the queen. What does he tell the?
42:31
People how the king had died. Oh well, that's.
42:34
The crazy part, he asks his servant who had stabbed him to
42:38
come and tell the Queen that it was the King's servants, not his
42:42
servants, Correct. So again, the.
42:43
The fraud was, yeah, perpetrated in, in, you know, very dishonest
42:48
way. And but the Queen, she at first
42:53
anyway, would have assumed that Malachiah was a friendly person,
42:59
and he offers an alliance with her, and he pretends to.
43:03
Defend her husband, the past king.
43:05
He pretends to be mourning a queen.
43:07
Would need in that world a king so having having that offer you
43:14
can see why was would have been reasonable for her to have to
43:18
have accepted that in verse 36 we.
43:20
Read about these dissenters and it says that not long after
43:23
their dissension, they become more hardened and impenitent and
43:27
more wild, wicked, ferocious than the Lamanites, entirely
43:31
forgetting the Lord their God. And this becomes a theme of the
43:35
rest of the war chapters. It's emphasized before as well
43:40
that if we have had the Spirit of God in our lives and we have
43:44
been taught the truth and we leave, it is harder.
43:48
Satan has a stronger whole. And I take it back to Lehigh's
43:52
opposition in all things. I don't know exactly why this is
43:55
the case, but the author wanted to emphasize this here.
44:04
So in chapter 48 we now have Amalekaya Zoramite with his
44:10
Lamanite forces and he decides now it's my time to take
44:13
Zarahemla. And so he launches maybe a
44:17
surprise attack on Zarahemla and he he comes forward.
44:22
Actually, he doesn't come. He sends his captain, he stays
44:25
back, I think to make peace with the Queen or whatever, but it's
44:28
still his war. He's the one who's sending him
44:30
out. That's right, it's his war.
44:32
But he's not, he's not a trained soldier, but he, he will go.
44:36
And he's always there, of course, as the leader from the
44:41
rear. Or sometimes he'll come out in
44:42
the front later. Yeah, but not in this war.
44:45
He lost the last one and he's not going to come up this time.
44:47
And Captain Moroni. Will defend Zarahemmah and it's
44:52
Moroni's faith in Christ that will allow him to to win.
44:57
And in in chapter 48 verse 13 we have the another use of the word
45:05
Christ saying that Moroni was firm in the faith of Christ and
45:10
swore an oath to defend his people.
45:12
So as the leader, we know what his motives are.
45:18
A Chapter 49 begins with a little aside.
45:23
Where down in the South of Zarahem, the land of Zarahemla
45:28
was the city of Amaniah, and it had been an important and a
45:32
strategic place. The Nahorites had gone there.
45:35
And it's kind of a midpoint between the Lamanites and the
45:39
Nephites. And so it would make sense for
45:42
the Nephites to want to be sure that the Lamanites can't take
45:44
that place. Now.
45:46
The city of Ammonia had been destroyed.
45:50
And back in Alma Chapter 16, it tells us that it was in the 11th
45:56
year of the Reign of Judges, and now we're in the 19th.
46:00
And. There are only a few places in
46:03
the whole Book of Mormon where we have day, month and year for
46:07
a certain event. I counted them up.
46:08
There's. 10 But here in chapter 49 verse one it says they came
46:12
to pass in the 11th month. In the 19th year, on the 10th
46:16
day, we get an exact date and it is now.
46:19
In the 19th year, so forget the months and days.
46:23
It's important for them, but they want us to know that it's
46:26
precise. But it has been more than seven
46:29
years. Why is that significant?
46:31
We know from. Some ancient texts that when a
46:35
city in the ancient world was destroyed and lots of people
46:38
were dead and they weren't given proper burials, and you remember
46:42
in Amaniah, they heaped all of the bodies into a great heap and
46:47
went away. It was called something like
46:48
Neat. The the desolation of.
46:50
Nahors, that's right, that's right.
46:52
Yeah, the. Land is now.
46:53
Contaminated with corpse impurity.
46:56
And again, under the Law of Moses, that's the seven years.
46:59
There is a 7. Year cleansing period and we
47:03
have a couple cases. One of them was on the island of
47:06
Cyprus where a town had been destroyed and after seven years
47:13
a proclamation said people can now move back into that area if
47:16
they want and this is what we see here.
47:18
In the Book of Mormon, these ancient rules coming to pass
47:21
right here in chapter 49. Wow.
47:23
Wow, they wanted. To call attention to this, and
47:27
it's not just that it was eight years, but precisely, exactly in
47:31
the. Meantime.
47:32
Amalekaya makes an oath to drink Moroni's blood, right?
47:37
That's in chapter 49, verse 27. Now, what kind of an oath is
47:40
that? Now, of course he wants to kill
47:43
Moroni. He's really mad.
47:44
I mean, Moroni has defeated his effort to try to come and and
47:50
conquer Zarahemla. But this oath that Amalekai is
47:54
taking, you don't eat blood. This is not kosher.
47:59
You can't eat a drop of blood under Mosaic law.
48:03
And so saying that he will drink Moroni's blood, this is as much
48:10
of A threat to the law of Moses and the religion of the people
48:14
as you can imagine. It's so I thought that that was
48:21
worth a quick note. Meanwhile, in Chapter 50, we
48:29
have periods of. Peace four years for these five.
48:32
Years from the 20 to the 24th year of reign of judges, they're
48:36
all preparing. You know that they're rebuilding
48:39
Amaniah they're they become rich.
48:41
It says they build cities, the cities of Moroni, Aaron,
48:46
Nephiah, the faithful were delivered and in chapter 50
48:52
verse 23, it says never was there a happier time.
48:56
And I think it's in part. Because the people could feel
48:59
safe, they didn't have to constantly be under the fear of
49:02
death. He describes some of these
49:04
towers interestingly. I'm going to start in chapter
49:06
50, verse one. Moroni did not stop making
49:09
preparations, digging up heaps of earth around about all the
49:12
cities upon the tops of these ridges of earth, he caused that
49:16
there should be Timbers the height of a man.
49:18
And then he builds towers. And the reason why I think this
49:21
is so interesting because I just finished reading my latest
49:24
National Geographic where they've done, you know, they
49:26
started these Lidar studies down in Central America in 2018 and
49:31
2020. And they just finished another
49:34
one in 2024. And it was published saying that
49:38
these cities that are close enough that you can get to see
49:42
each other within days journey have these huge mounds and you
49:46
can't access the city except for through one pass.
49:50
And that as they dug up the mounds, they've left a Moat
49:54
around the city. Well, it's sounds like it's
49:56
describing Moroni's efforts, but it's now in the archaeological
50:00
record that they're trying to see from the time period that
50:03
exactly ties to this. It's the 1st century BC and
50:07
there is a chart in charting the book.
50:08
Of Mormon that lists all of periods of fortification in
50:13
Mesoamerican archaeology. Certain centuries we don't see
50:16
much fortification work going on, but in the 1st century BC
50:20
this time period is one of the largest times that
50:23
fortifications appear. Also in the 3rd and 4th century
50:28
when Moroni will be fighting, there are lots of fortifications
50:32
that show up. Not our captain Moroni, but
50:33
after, yeah. Yeah, after the destruction of
50:35
the layman, so the the archaeological.
50:38
Record when you see the timing of the building of these
50:40
fortifications corresponds fairly closely to the periods in
50:44
the Book of Mormon when we have when we have.
50:48
Intense. Warfare.
50:50
Well, as they are doing all of this fortification, the
50:53
Lamanites of course, under Amalekaya's lead are planning a
50:58
major campaign. It's and it's going to be an all
51:03
out return so that he can drink the blood of Moroni.
51:06
They're equipping themselves. They are preparing just as the
51:09
Nephites are preparing or defense.
51:12
The Lamanites are gearing up that verse 19 and 20 talks about
51:15
the. Purpose of these war chapters
51:17
are to show God's hand, and he actually quotes Lehigh when he
51:20
does it. One of these new cities up the
51:23
East Seacoast is the city of Lehigh, and it's right next to
51:27
another city of Morianton. But Morianton unfortunately
51:31
thinks that the people of Lehigh are a little too close.
51:33
He wants more property, and so he starts a little battle
51:36
between these two neighbors. These two new Nephite towns are
51:40
fighting against each other. Well, unfortunately, Morianton
51:44
is a wicked man. He gets mad.
51:46
He beats his poor maidservant. She runs over and tells
51:49
moronized people and we have to stop another civil battle
51:55
between the Nephites that you know, they're getting upset at
51:59
each other, that is stopped. At the same time, Zarahemna is
52:04
preparing to come to battle from the Lamanites with the Lamanites
52:07
and Moro, and I will send troops.
52:09
To stop them. So now he's sending them out to
52:12
the northeast and Tiankum, the leader, this is the first time
52:17
we hear about Tiankum, but he goes in through a narrow pass by
52:22
the sea and this leads up to the land northward and he is able to
52:27
slay Moriantem. And so it's interesting that
52:32
we'll seek T antcom he will this is he will kill three people in
52:37
this way one-on-one combat of some kind.
52:41
And with that, peace is restored there, except we do have a
52:46
change of government again. That's right, Nephiah dies.
52:49
Yeah, and so his son. Pahoran is voted in by the
52:53
people. It's a very different kind of
52:55
system of judges than we have. It's more like the Old
52:58
Testament, isn't it? Where the judges are usually for
53:00
life and it's often through families, but the voice of the
53:04
people. Sustains them and so you have to
53:08
get the confirmation of that. But when we have a military a.
53:11
Political change. We often have military
53:14
skirmishes. People are upset, they want to,
53:17
they aren't too. Everyone's not always happy with
53:19
the outcome. That's almost always the case
53:21
that. When you have a change of
53:22
government, then there's a moment of opportunity for
53:28
whether it's a political initiative or military.
53:32
But and especially in the ancient world where the the new
53:36
king doesn't really know what he's doing very much yet.
53:39
And so it it's a, a vulnerable point.
53:42
And that's what happens next, as we have the Lamanites now
53:48
beginning to attack. And in chapters 51 and 52 we
53:53
have what we call the beginning of the 2nd Amalekite War.
53:57
So this Amalekite War lasts 7. Years and would like to talk
53:59
about it in one setting. So we'll talk about these two
54:02
chapters in our next video. Please join us then to see the
54:06
strength that God's hand can have as we are striving to do
54:10
his work. You know, as we go through these
54:12
chapters. We can learn a lot of personal
54:14
lessons about loyalty and about faithfulness to God and belief
54:19
in Christ and knowing that he is in the details of our lives.
54:24
We have a responsibility in all of this to prepare.
54:29
And Moroni, he did prepare. His preparations involved not
54:33
only fortifications that he built, but armor, and he was
54:38
able to clothe his soldiers in new kinds of weapons and armor
54:44
that was would be successful. You know Jack, I think he was
54:46
inspired to do that. Moroni and Mormon both state all
54:50
that is good comes of God, and I think the Moroni is actually
54:54
inspired by God in his efforts to do that and Hugh Nibley said.
54:59
Moroni was unconventional and it's true that he doesn't just
55:04
fight the old normal way. Nibley himself of course knew a
55:08
lot about military and he's and he said all military geniuses
55:13
are not conventional. So we have enough, enough being
55:18
told to us here that Mormon recognizes the not just the
55:24
inspiration, which of course is motivating more Moroni, but he's
55:30
also bringing every talent to bear that he can.
55:33
And he prepares. He prepares in advance.
55:37
And I'd like to testify of the importance of our preparation in
55:41
our own life, that if we don't prepare, if you fail to prepare,
55:48
you prepare to fail. As a nice little chiasm, we have
55:52
been blessed with Rd. maps of life.
55:55
We have the plan of salvation. And as we prepare to meet the
56:00
problems that will inevitably come to us, there will be
56:03
difficulties. Just ask Moroni.
56:07
These Nephites knew that life was not simple, but because they
56:11
were prepared and had faith in Jesus Christ, they prevailed.
56:17
And I testified that that's a formula for us today, too.
56:20
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.